Grand opening celebration for the 620-metre long tunnel to be held Saturday

About The Author

Scott Dippel Municipal Affairs Reporter

Scott Dippel has been at CBC for more than two decades across four provinces. His roles have included legislative reporter, news reader, assignment editor and national reporter. When not at Calgary's City Hall it's still all politics, all the time.

The above picture is the city's rendering of the complete airport tunnel. (City of Calgary)

The politics

City council vote when tunnel was approved in February 2011: 8-7

Of the eight in favour, the following are still on council: (Mayor Naheed Nenshi, Jim Stevenson, Ray Jones, Richard Pootmans, Gian-Carlo Carra, Andre Chabot, ​Shane Keating and Peter Demong)

Of the seven opposed, three still remain on council: (Diane Colley-Urquhart, Druh Farrell and Brian Pincott)

The lanes

Number of lanes in tunnel: 6 (3 in each cell (or side) of the tunnel)

Width of each side in metres: 17

Vehicle height clearance in metres: 5.3

The airport tunnel will connect Barlow Trail to 36th Street N.E. The city would like to see the road connect to Métis Trail before eventually connecting to Stoney Trail, or Calgary's ring road. (City of Calgary)

The route

Tunnel goes under: 1 runway and 3 taxiways

Future LRT? C-Train track could be put down on the inside lane in each side of tunnel

Tunnel is made of 50 sections totalling 58,000 cubic metres of concrete and 12,000 tonnes of steel

Concrete pour: February to October 2012

Thickness: walls: 1 metre, floor slab: 1.5 metres

The tunnel will open with three lanes for traffic on Sunday. Eventually it will have four lanes that will allow for C-Train commuters. (City of Calgary)

The extras

Electrical conduit in kilometres: 45

Number of 100 horsepower fans to clear smoke and exhaust from tunnel: 32

Each fan unit weight in kilograms: 570

Each fan unit length in metres: 5.6

Fire extinguishers, dry standpipe (water) and fire hose: every 75 metres in each side of tunnel

Lights: 1,380 halophane metal halide fixtures

Electricity supply: From 2 different sub-stations in Calgary so guaranteed power at all times

Concrete work on the structure itself began with the installation of footings followed by forming and casting of the tunnel walls and roof. A total of 50 concrete sections were poured. Each tunnel section required 850 cubic metres of concrete which was delivered by about 80 trucks over a 12-hour period. (City of Calgary)